Across The Universe
by Different World
Summary: Will was never a Guardian. Miranda went with Cedric to find the Princess. These alterations will have massive consequences for Miridian, for the Guardians, and for the girls in question. Yuri.
1. Across The Universe

_**I'm starting another story!? I'm a baaaaad person. ALAS! The plot bunnies! Will they never let me rest!? Sorry. Trust me I intend to start updating Signal Fire soon (Also might rename it, don't know), but work has been a killer lately.**_

_**This story's a little weird in that I didn't spend a year working up the details. Truth be told it's the first in a list of stories I plan to write.**_

_**It's 3:36 A.M. and I need to be up in five hours for training and then work.**_

_**Let's get started.**_

**Vkwauhgvoiuwavuynowiauygroviagtaywgtovygoiagitgwiotgv ngtawygvtawgturg**

Prince Phobos was displeased. That much Cedric knew immediately.

And in truth, the Prince had every right to be angry with him. It had been over three weeks since he had acquired the birth records from the Earth city, and still he had not found the Princess. He dearly hoped that that Miranda had found useful information. If she managed to put Phobos in a good mood, then he was lest likely to punish his _faithful_ servants.

"Miranda," Prince Phobos called, "what news have you brought me?"

The girl curtsied gracefully, "I believe, my lord, that I have narrowed the list down significantly."

While Cedric was researching and planning at the Bookstore, Miranda had been sent to the local school to investigate were most likely to be the Princess. Thus far Cedric Had assumed that she had been having even less luck then he had, but this was a pleasant surprise - and there had been very few of those since the Guardians had begun meddling.

The Prince raised an eyebrow, "You did? Well then let us hear _how _you did this."

"It was quite simple, sire." - Cedric was certain that was meant as a slight against him - "I simply asked. One of the girls, Elyon, knows very little of her family history. The other girl, Will, refuses to speak of any member of her family other than her mother."

Phobos thought for several moments before replying. "Which would be easier to approach?" he asked at last.

A look of indecision crossed Miranda's face but quickly vanished. "Elyon would make an easy target for Cedric, bu-but I-I think I should be allowed to-to try to bring Will."

Prince Phobos waved his hand uncaringly, "very well, just so long as the Guardians don't become involved you may do what ever you wish with her."

Cedric did not miss the blush that crept on the Miranda's face at the Prince's comment.

NEWSCENENEWSCENENEWSCENENEWSCENENEWSCENENEWSCENE

Miranda walked through the halls of Phobos's Castle, Cedric at her side.

"Miranda," Cedric had stopped and turned to her - she noticed the snake-like hiss had crept into his voice- "I noticed you seemed a little _concerned _about the Earth-girl Will."

"And," she snapped "what concern is that of yours?!"

Cedric shrugged. "None. Unless of course you let your feelings for her interfere with our mission, In which case I will be forced to step in."

Miranda glared. "Listen and listen _good _Cedric, if you lay one scaly hand on her I'll make you wish you were _never born_!"

The Snake-Man chuckled softly. "Terrifying. But perhaps you should stick with unnerving flies and small children. Let us leave it at this: keep yourself under control or I _will _do what I must to protect Prince Phobos's plans."

**Vkwauhgvoiuwavuynowiauygroviagtaywgtovygoiagitgwiotgv ngtawygvtawgturg**

_**Yes this will be a Miranda/Will story. Like I said part of a list, while I work on this and SF I'll try to get to number VI: A Nigel/Will Oneshot, till then.**_


	2. Best Friend

In the costal city of Heather Field it was a pleasant, autumn day. The sky was unmarred by clouds, a brilliant blue reflection of the sea. The air was crisp and cool, the smell of saltwater wafting through the town. And in an apartment downtown, Will Vandom couldn't be more bored.

Said thirteen year old lay on her bed, radio turned up, wishing that her "friends" would actually involve her in something. Okay, that was unfair. Elyon and Miranda would ask her to hang out every now and then, but she real wished the others would.

Come to think of it, _were _they really her friends? After all they had barely talked to her since her first day. Maybe they decided she wasn't interesting enough? Had she offended them when she turned down Hay Lin's offer hang out at the Silver Dragon? Although, come to think of it, they'd been ignoring Elyon as well, and she was supposed to be Cornelia's best friend!

She should have known better. She didn't have many friends in Fadden Hills ether and most of them had only barely tolerated her. At the time, she thought her moms job transfer would be her chance to be, well not popular, but at least not disliked. Instead she ended up in almost the exact same situation. The only real difference was now she had Elyon and Miranda.

Will's thoughts turned to her dark-haired friend. From what she knew, Miranda had only been going to Sheffield since the start of term, only a month longer then Will. The two had quickly become friends, and while she may have had doubts about the others, she knew Miranda was a true friend.

A knock on her bedroom door broke her contemplation.

"Yes?" she called.

Her mother opened the door, still dressed from work. Will generally tried to keep her mom from seeing her room right after work; Susan Vandom's job required that she be neat and efficient, never allowing a single thing to slip by unnoticed. This was, naturally, a mindset that was more often then not troubled by her daughters unfastidious cleaning standards. For once, however, her mother seemed not to notice the mess.

"So" she began cheerfully, "have you decided what you want to do for your birthday?"

Will looked at her mother, confused, "Mom, my birthday's not for a week."

"Will what's to days date?" Susan asked eyebrow raised.

"Er, the fourth?"

"Try the _twelfth_, your birthday's the day after tomorrow."

Will jumped out of bed, dumbfounded. "_WHAT_?!"

"You forgot your _birthday_?!" her mother guffawed, "Honesty Will, how you can be so disorganized I'll never know. So, should we get to work on in invitation list?"

"Invitations?" Will asked still floored by the fast she had managed to forget her own birthday.

Susan rolled her eyes, "Yes Will, invitations to your birthday party. I'm sure there's plenty of girls at school you want to invite."

'Yeah, but only two that would actually show up' a small part of Will's mind muttered contemptuous, out loud she said, "Actually, Mom, could I just invite one or two of the girls?"

Her mom gave her a questioning look, but after a moment said, "Sure sweetheart . . . Will you know if you ever need to talk, I'm right here."

"Yeah, I know," Will replied flashing an appreciative smile.

NEWSCENENEWSCENENEWSCENENEWSCENENEWSCENENEWSCENE

"So," Elyon inquired as she and Miranda wandered through the mall, "any idea what to get for Will." Their friend had only told them today about her upcoming birthday, and they were more then a little worried about finding a good gift in a day.

"Not really," Miranda admitted, "but I was thinking, maybe, a bracelet or something…"

Elyon pondered that, "That does sound nice. Hmm…maybe a Teddy Frog."

Miranda stared at her, "A Teddy Frog?"

She nodded, "Yeah, haven't you ever noticed how much frog stuff she has? Key chains, backpack, even that hairclip of hers! The girl loves frogs."

Her dark-haired classmate gave a shrug, which said simple 'If you say so.' Miranda looked up at the large clock on the wall, "Looks like I need to head home," she said.

"Right, see you tomorrow"

**Vkwauhgvoiuwavuynowiauygroviagtaywgtovygoiagitgwiotgv ngtawygvtawgturg**

**So, er…been a while, hu? I really can't apologize enough for the delay; a story with such short chapters and low qualities should really have new chapters out every week. Anyway feed back appreciated, and please, PLEASE, if you have any experience with romance, I'll take any tips I can get. Also, I'm trying to add more description in the writing, please tell me if it's any good.**

**Next time "Oh, Mandy"**


	3. Devil In Disguise

_**Sorry for the wait**_

**Vkwauhgvoiuwavuynowiauygroviagtaywgtovygoiagitgwiotgv ngtawygvtawgturg**

Will hurriedly grabbed her cloths and rushed to the bathroom. She had procrastinated, and now she only had a very short amount of time before Elyon and Miranda arrived. She through her things on the counter and went to turn on the water. With a sigh, she sat at the edge of the tub and waited for the water to warm. The only thing she disliked about this apartment was how long it took the darn water heater to kick in.

Their old house hadn't had that problem . . . But then again, their old house hadn't had any problems. Okay, so it had _one _problem, but it wasn't the houses fault that it had been in Fadden Hills.

Will shivered; thinking of Fadden Hills always reminded her of _that _day. . .

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_Will stood in front of Manchester Middle School, waiting for Eli Grumper, her best friend. She couldn't wait to tell Eli about last night, she had gone to a party -something she really didn't do often - and had ended up with Terry McGinnis giving her a kiss and asking her for a date._

_She saw Eli coming, along with a group of their other friends. As always the tall blonde stood out of the crowd in a way Will wished she was able to._

_Will grinned, walked toward her friends', and called, "Hey Eli, have I got a story for you!"_

_She was met with a cold glare._

_Will lowered her hand, her grin faded, "Eli? I-is something wrong?" _

"_Of course something's wrong you stuck up piece of crap."_

_Will blinked, Eli was the sweetest person she knew; she'd _never _talked to her like that before._

"_Eli, I don-"_

"_Just shut up!" Eli shouted. "_God_! I don't know _why _I ever put up with you!"_

_Maybe if she could calm her friend down, then Will could find out what the problem was._

"_L-look, Eli, why don't you just take a deep breath and tell me what is wrong?"_

"_What's wrong? What's wrong!? What's wrong is _Terry_!"_

"_That's all?" Will said, somewhere between amazement and relief, "Come on Eli, we're _best friends _you don't have to be so-"_

"_I'm _not _your friend!"_

_That hit Will like a ton of bricks…but, it _couldn't _be true…She looked at her at her friend; Amanda and Melody, Sam and Ally; they all had the same cold look on their faces; the look you give a dog that just went on the new carpet. Will felt her eyes water._

"_Don't you get it, you stupid _bitch_?" will's blond not-friend screeched, "Nobody likes you!_

"_Th-th-that's n-n-not tr-true!" Will countered feebly, as the first tear rolled down her cheek._

_Eli Grumper, however, wasn't done, "The only reason we put up with you is because we felt sorry for you! Hell, the only reason you were invited to that party was because I practically begged June to let you come! And, somehow, the first party you go to you end up with the most pop- Hey! _Where the hell are you going_?!"_

_Will was running. She ran faster then she ever had, she _had _to get away from there. She would go home; yes, that was it. She would go home and go to sleep; when she woke up she'd see it was all just a bad dream. . ._

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Will shook her head, trying to dispel the memories.

"_Stuck up_" was that really what people thought of her? She hadn't gone to parties then because she was shy, and didn't think anyone wanted her there (now she knew _that _was true). And the reason she had turned down Hay Lin was because she had still needed to help her mom unpack!

Oh well. So she stuck with Elyon and Miranda, it wasn't like that would have any serious consequences.

**Vkwauhgvoiuwavuynowiauygroviagtaywgtovygoiagitgwiotgv ngtawygvtawgturg**

_**Well there ya go. Would have come sooner, but I'm getting started n a new chapter of SF, got a new game (O.k. so 2), and I was working on this and the next 3 chapters at the same time - hopefully they'll be out by the end of the week. And I'm working on the WillxNigel story, so that's slowin' me down too. **_

_**Also, the WxN is under the working title of **_**Girl**_**, but I'd like to think of something else. If you have any ideas be sure to tell me just make sure it's from a song, story, or poem by a British musician or writer - you'll se why.**_

_**Again, if you have any tips on romance, drop me a line. **_


	4. Here I Go Again

Elyon sat nervously in the backseat of Cedric's car. Miranda's cousin - Elyon still couldn't believe how lucky she was that her friend knew the cute bookstore owner - had been kind enough to give them a ride to the party. Elyon tugged apprehensively at the hem a of her skirt, Will had said that they didn't need to dress up, but she was so used to the huge blowouts Cornelia's parents that the idea of going to a birthday party in her normal school clothes seemed laughable.

Thinking of her tall friend, Elyon sighed. While the Birthday Girl had insisted that the _only_ reason the others hadn't been invited was that her mother wanted her to just have small get together. Elyon thought she knew the _real _reason. . .

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_Elyon stood in "foyer" of Sheffield Institute with her friends; in fact, the "foyer" was simply a large dome like building that the students loved to gather under. The day was almost done, and she, Miranda, Alchemy, Irma, Taranee, Cornelia, and Hay Lin were gathered to plan out the rest of the day. With all the rain and unseasonably cold weather, their choices were limited._

"_So, we still set to go to the Silver Dragon?" Taranee asked._

_Hay Lin nodded, "Yeah, my mom said she'd pick us up, so we won't have to walk through the rain."_

"_Actually," Miranda spoke up, "Elyon and me have to get to the books shop to help Cedric finish unloading the new textbooks."_

"_Hay Lin, didn't you say you were going to ask that new girl Will to come along?" Irma wondered._

_Hay Lin nodded, "Yeah, but she said she wasn't coming."_

"_Excuse me?!" Cornelia inquired indignantly, "Who does she think she is?!"_

"_Corny," Irma warned, looking past the blond._

_Cornelia, however, was a strong believer in the social rules of Jr. High, and paid her no mind, "No. What kind of jerk is this New Kid anyway?!"_

"Corny_" the young Latin girl warned again._

"_Let me finish Irma! I mean, I figured the rumors the Grumper Sisters were spreading about her being stuck up was just more Grumper Nastiness, but it looks like I was wrong."_

"Damn it_ Corny, _**turn around**_!" The blond did just that, and let out a small gasp._

_Behind Cornelia - just out side of the foyer - was Will Vandom, soaking wet and looking for all the world like a kicked puppy. As soon as Cornelia turned to look at her, she lowered her head, staring fixedly at the ground. Elyon could see her shoulders shaking ever so slightly._

"_S-s-s-sorry, I, I didn't mean t-t-to over h-h-hear, I j-j-just . . ." not bothering to finish (not that Elyon could blame her) she turned and ran back towards the main building, leaving a very compunctious Cornelia Hale behind._

"_Erm . . . Oops?"_

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Elyon sighed again; that had been a bad day. She and Miranda had been the only ones to apologize that day; the others hadn't until that next Monday. And while Will refused to talk about it, Elyon was just _knew_ that that was reason the others hadn't been invited.

Well, that and the fact that, while the others had, Cornelia had never apologized. That was the thing that still got Elyon. It wasn't that Cornelia was a bad person, she really wasn't. But for some unknown reason the rich girl could never admit when she said the wrong thing.

Oh well. Even if Will and Cornelia never became good friends, it wasn't like that would have any serious consequences.

**Vkwauhgvoiuwavuynowiauygroviagtaywgtovygoiagitgwiotgv ngtawygvtawgturg**

_**Sorry for the wait, I procrastinated. This was actually supposed to be chapter 5, but I'm having trouble with the real 4 and decided to put this one up in its stead.**_

**Girl **_**should be out tomorrow, go look for it. **_

_**Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving.**_

_**P.S. the reader in Latvia, please leave a review. Thanks.**_


	5. An ExStatue

Prince Phobos sat upon his throne deep in concentration. At least, that was how it must have appeared to the mindless Guards that watched over his throne room. In truth the prince was fuming over the incompetence of his supposed "lieutenants". Were they searching for the Guardians of the Vail, attempting to bring his sister to him, or finding portals between the worlds?

No.

Instead of doing any thing they had been ordered to, they were at a child's _birthday party. _Phobos had told Miranda she could play schoolgirl if it didn't interfere in their mission - this was most certainly "interfering".

The Monarch of Meridian reached into the large urn beside his throne and grasped a hand full of birnt s'nd. With a lazy flick of his wrist he tossed it onto the floor in front of him. As the s'nd touched the polished marble, the stone began to swirl and ripple like water.

"Cedric," called the prince, "report immediately!"

After a long moment the marble floor began to swirl once more, but this time an upside-down whirlpool began to form. Slowly, it raised it self to half a mans height, taking the shape of his second in command as it did so.

"My lord?" came Cedric's voice, serpentine even in his human form.

"Tell me Cedric," Phobos growled, "Why are you late in giving your report?"

He knew the answer of course, but he wanted to see the ungrateful snake sweat a bit.

"Sire," - the prince was pleased to hear the tiniest hint of nervousness in his servants voice - "I am attending the bir-"

"Oh, that's _right_!" Phobos called mockingly, "I'd almost forgotten you're busy _social life_! After all, why would _anyone _wish to do such a lowley thing as repont to their LORD AND MASTER!?"

The small statue cringed, "My master, I would have contacted you had anything important had come up. Bu-"

"ANYTHING IMPORTANT?!" raged the prince leaping from his high thrown. "Important as in the fact that the Guardians are now aware of your presence on earth? Important as in the rebel pot to assassinate me? Oh yes Cedric I see how utterly insignificant that all must be to you!"

The miniature Lord Cedric looked as if he could not quite decide to be scared or confused, thou when he spoke it seemed he had chosen the latter.

"My Lord," he said cautiously, I had heard no such-"

"Ah," interrupted Phobos, his tone triumphant, "But Miranda _did_."

"_Miranda_?" the serpentine knight hissed venomously.

"Yes Cedric, Miranda" Phobos said in a tone better reserved for ignorant children then great warriors, "She contacted me this morning."

When his lieutenant did not respond, Phobos continued. "I want you to return to Meridian _now_, Cedric. I want this plot rooted out by dawn!"

"Master, I will be there shortly, however . . .Master, I cannot simply leave the party without-" Phobos had had enough. With an enraged shout, he trust out his palm and , with a fierce blast of yellow-white energy, blew the statue into a hundred thousand fragments.

For a long moment he stood there, eyes clamped shut. Thou ending their little chat in such a way would not only insure that Cedric remembered his place, but also felt a good deal of physical pain, it nonetheless had it's drawbacks. Chief among them was the pain Phobos himself felt. The best description of it would be a troll pulling an a very fine cord, a cord that went threw his navel and connected to his innards. It had _never _been this bad before, especially with such a mundane use of his powers. He had to bring his sister to Meridian soon; if he didn't it was unlikely he would live another year.

**Vkwauhgvoiuwavuynowiauygroviagtaywgtovngtawygvtawgturgygoiagitgwiotgv **

_**So . . . been a while. **_

_**I SWEAR I didn't mean to take so long. Listen: First I was going to have one huge update (1 long chapter for this, 2 short ones of **_**Girl, **_**and 3 long ones for **_**SF**_**) then my computer crashed. Every outline, note, and chapter, erased form existence. After that I had a minor freak out and decided to give up.**_

_**Then I read a review from **_**ptofan.**

_**I'm not sure if it was her intention or not, but she guilt tripped me into writing again. So you can all blame her for this garbage getting posted.**_

_**This was originally going to include the assassination plot Phobos mentions, but I figured I'd split it there.**_


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